For a lot of college students the very last thing they think about is health insurance as is shown in some recent figures which show that about 1 in 3 college students do not have any form of health insurance coverage. Starting university is an expensive undertaking and merely finding the money you have to have and getting your college loans is difficult enough, but you ought to also consider including some form of low cost health insurance along with everything else you will need to have.

You should naturally begin by looking at your parents’ health insurance plan if this is applicable as it is quite possible that this will include cover for you during your time at university. You do however have to read through the small print very carefully because some plans will cover you while you are away at university while other plans will not. Two things to look for especially are conditions concerning location and age.

A lot of health insurance plans will provide cover for children up to the age of 18 or 21 as long as you are at home and some plans will extend this age limit as long as you are in full-time education. However, many plans are limited to providing cover within a specified geographic area and so, although you might meet the plan’s age requirements, you may discover that you will not be covered when you are away from home.

When your parents’ plan will not provide you with the cover you need then you will have to arrange your own student health insurance and will need to look for suitable providers. Luckily, this is not difficult and there are many insurance companies which provide plans specifically designed for students. So, where should you start looking?

To start you should look at your own college as universities will often make arrangements for their students to get cover at preferential rates. This does not automatically mean that this is the best plan for your own circumstances and you should look at the details of the plan to ensure that it does indeed meet your needs. Nevertheless your own university is a very good place to start your search and will usually offer you the best deal. Another thing to think about when looking at your own college is just what type of medical facilities they provide on campus. The majority of the bigger universities will provide excellent medical facilities that are staffed around the clock, while a lot of the smaller colleges will have far more limited facilities.

Outside of the college itself you can also look to the insurance companies as well as a number of publicly funded organizations for health cover. In addition, do not overlook the fact that there are a number of different types of plan which are aimed at different groups of students. Short-term health insurance for example might be attractive to a lot of graduate students and can usually be extended following graduation to cover the period until you find a job and become eligible for an employer’s health plam. In addition, there are supplemental plans which will provide cover for you for things such as pre-existing medical conditions which are generally excluded from normal student cover.

Nowadays health insurance is a complex area and you will need to shop around in order to to find a student health insurance plan which meets your requirements and also your pocketbook. This is however something which you should certainly not ignore because attending university is an expensive enough undertaking in the first place and you do not want to risk your money or your future because you are unable to meet the cost of illness or injury.

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